The mobile Web is getting increasingly interesting. Nokia has put another hat in the ring with their new Nokia Web Runtime that embeds WebKit into S60 phones:

Widgets — you’re familiar with them from the desktop. Small, focused web applications that are easy to install and use. Perfect for the small screen. Nokia has extended the S60 browser engine to behave as a runtime platform in its own right.

Web Runtime (WRT) is available in devices based on S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 and later. It’s also available as a software update for selected S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1 devices. WRT is a simple mobile web technology that can really work for you.

Aptana is expanding its support for mobile web applications with today’s beta release of the Nokia WRT (Web Runtime) plug-in for Aptana Studio. The Aptana iPhone Web development plug-in has been one of the most popular for Aptana Studio – and now there’s support for Nokia phones too. What’s cool (other than all the great development tools in Aptana Studio now available) is that Nokia has embedded WebKit for NATIVE phone apps. That’s right — You use your Ajax, JavaScript, HTML and CSS skills to create NATIVE apps – and in so doing get better and more optimized performance along with more capabilities that come from running natively.

The Nokia WRT is based on WebKit. So there’s lots of sound, open web technology there as a foundation upon which to build. Despite the “duh factor” of this, it’s kind of revolutionary since mobile devices historically have required specialized runtimes, libraries and tools resulting in a highly fractious eco-system for mobile app development. WebKit’s adoption by many leading mobile device manufacturers, including Apple for its iPhone, lays a great foundation at last for a mobile standard: JavaScript, HTML, and CSS — Duh!

Is anyone else getting tired of every company creating their own “web runtime” engine? There needs to be some standards developed in this area to make applications more portable, that’s the reason RIAs were developed in the first place.